What’s four days long, bigger than seven football fields, and filled with thousands of toys? It’s Toy Fair 2014!

Each year, hundreds of toy companies from across the country come together in New York City. All sorts of products are displayed as a sneak peek at what’s to come in the new year. This year’s trends include retro items, like Slinky and Scrabble, with a modern twist. Oversize toys, like giant plushies and ride-ons, are popular too. “In 2014, everything is really big and really out there,” says Adrienne Appell, a toy-trends expert.

Toy Fair is the largest toy trade show in the Western Hemisphere. Toy-store buyers attend the event for an early preview of items they may want to sell during the holiday season. Members of the media, like TFK, go to the fair to report back on all the cool trends. Unfortunately, Toy Fair is not open to the public.

Toy Trends

This year’s Toy Fair was the biggest in its 111-year history. More than 1,000 toy companies and manufacturers exhibited products ranging from simple card games to high-tech robots.

“Larger Than Life” was a Toy Fair favorite. This trend is all about big toys with a big play value. There were also familiar brands like Lego and Crayola at the event, making classic items another popular trend. Some of the stuff TFK saw was the same toys our parents played with as kids, but with a modern twist.

Though it is all fun and games at Toy Fair, we saw lots of products making a push towards education, with STEAM. That stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and math. This trend includes word games, puzzles, and building kits.

And of course, we saw some super cool, high-tech games. “Technology is always going to influence toys,” says Appell. “This year we saw lots of virtual printing, 3D games, and robots.”

To see some highlights, watch the video below, and click here to view a slideshow of more toys.